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Americans haunt old antique shops searching for items from the Old West. It wasn't all that long ago and many of us have known men and women who came across the country in covered wagons, fought Indians and traded shots with bad men. My grandparents and great grandparents were among these.

I found within the dusty shelves in a little antique shop in Oregon dozens of tintypes collected by Sallie Lucy Chisum, the niece of the famous pioneer rancher in New Mexico, John Simpson Chisum. Most of the pictures are of her and her family, but some of them are of friends of hers including the infamous Billy Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, aka Henry McCarty. None of these pictures are known, all are unique.

I thought that some of you might like to see some of them, since Billy the Kid is universally known.

Note their hairstyle. This was the style among young men of the era. It is kind of like the spiked style of today, but back then they oiled their hair and teased it. I guess it drove the girls mad. Reason enough to do it.

These two pictures were probably taken on the same day. It must have been in March of 1878. Billy was about 18, and Brewer was just about to turn 28. He died soon after this picture was taken. He was shot in the left eye by Buckshot Roberts who was using an officer's model Trapdoor Springfield. The heavy bullet made a "blue spot" in Brewer's eye and blew out the back of his head. Obviously he never knew what hit him. Roberts was shot by another fellow and died the next day. He was shot in the growing by Charlie Bowdre who was eventually killed by Pat Garrett.

Brewer and Roberts were buried side by side and their headstones are still out there today, all lone in the tall grass of New Mexico.